


Princess Propaganda is Dangerous Stuff

by SailorPortia



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adolescent Catra and Adora, Based on a prompt my friend gave me, Cinematic Parallels, Comedy, Dare, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, It's hard to write about young Catradora without alluding to ANGSt, Lesbian awakening, Tsundere Catra, but I promise this is still cute, oblivious adora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorPortia/pseuds/SailorPortia
Summary: Adolescent Catra and Adora find an old video disc in one of Hordak's old storerooms during a late-night jaunt. It's a film called "The Princess's Secret Lover" and it's *obviously* Princess propaganda, but they watch it anyway, and Catra discovers something about herself.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 232





	Princess Propaganda is Dangerous Stuff

"We're not supposed to be here," Adora said. "Hordak's archives are off-limits."

"That's exactly why we should hang out here," Catra replied. "If it's off-limits, nobody will come in and find us." She really was a genius. Nobody appreciated that enough.

Life in the Fright Zone was either boring or awful, but at least there were a lot of cool places to explore. The labyrinthine junkyard offered no end to hiding places for Catra and Adora to avoid the others and be by themselves. Catra didn't like to share Adora.

It was after curfew, and Catra had dragged Adora out of bed as she sometimes did so they could explore unimpeded by Horde officers. As long as they avoided the patrols—and the patrols always patrolled the same hallways—they were in the clear. Adora always worried that Shadow Weaver would catch them, not that she would have been the one to get punished for it.

Tonight's expedition took them to one of Hordak's archives, a seldom used room filled wall-to-wall with broken robots, spare parts, and things they captured from the evil Princess Rebellion. Maybe there was something dangerous in there. Catra scurried into the room, eyes gleaming in the dark as she looked for something to impress Adora and convince her that breaking curfew was worthwhile.

Adora hung in the doorway, hesitant to cross the threshold. "If someone catches us, we'll get in trouble..."

"Then come in and close the door," Catra replied, standing on top of a pile of old Horde files. "Nobody ever goes in here except Hordak, and what's the chance he's gonna come in here to lurk?"

Adora still wasn't convinced. She stepped in far enough to close the door so they wouldn't be discovered, but she didn't join Catra amongst the junk piles.

"Don't be a wuss," Catra said. "How are we gonna be Force Captains if you're scared of getting into a little trouble?"

"Okay, but I can't see in the dark like you," Adora said, tip-toeing cautiously across the floor and feeling in front of herself with outstretched arms. "I don't want to bump into anything."

Catra grinned at her small victory. She rummaged around in the junk piles until she found a flashlight that miraculously still worked. With a light to guide her way, Adora joined her best friend in her search for cool stuff.

"What's this?" Adora held up a weird-looking disc. There was a picture of a woman with a tiara—a Princess!?—and some lady with a sword.

Catra zeroed in on it. "Looks like a video disk. Maybe it's some of that propaganda about the princesses that got junked."

Adora squinted at the faded text emblazoned across it. "It says 'The Princess's Secret Lover'."

Catra made a face. "Ew, gross! Let's watch it."

"Why would you want to watch something about Princesses?"

"Because if it got dumped in here it's either forbidden or so bad it's useless." She elbowed Adora. "Come on! It'll be fun!" Her eyes dilated in excitement

Adora never could say no to her when she was like this. "Alright, but we can't stay here all night."

Catra punched the air to celebrate her victory. After a little searching, they found a working projector that was probably there to view the archived materials. The ancient buttons needed a slam from Catra's fists to work, but they got it working in the end. Whirring and clunking, the projector blared to life and started playing the disc.

The images projected on the wall were bright and colourful, a landscape unlike Catra had ever seen before. It made her eyes hurt.

"This doesn't look like Horde propaganda," Adora marvelled, her mouth hanging open at the spectacle.

"Maybe it's Princess propaganda," Catra said. "That would explain why it's hidden away here."

The camera moved across the landscape, settling on a castle and zooming in on a balcony. Catra perked up. Princesses lived in castles, she knew from their anti-Rebellion classes.

Sure enough, a woman who could only be described as a Princess walked onto the balcony. She was tall, with short and curly blue hair, lavender skin, and legs long as Shadow Weaver's lectures. Her dress swept along the floor as she walked—horribly impractical—and was beautiful adorned with flowers and lace and other cutesy stuff.

The Princess didn't look anything like how they usually appeared; that proved the movie definitely wasn't Horde-approved. Where were the fangs, the horns, the penchant for eating babies?

"Wow," Adora said, eyes glittering. "She's so pretty."

Catra's eyes, however, darkened. "I didn't realize you were into Princesses now."

"What?" Adora blushed. "No!

"Be careful. I might report you to Shadow Weaver for fraternizing with the enemy."

"You wouldn't! You can't tell on me without getting in trouble too!"

Catra would never tell on Adora for many reasons. Not that she needed to know that. "Shush, your girlfriend is talking."

The girls quickly figured out that the Princess was totally fictional; nowhere in any of their strategic geography courses did they hear about a Sugar Plum kingdom. In fact, nothing depicted in the movie was remotely similar to anything the girls had ever seen before.  _ Definitely Princess propaganda, _ Catra thought as the Princess skipped through a meadow filled of flowers.

_ "Please slow down, your Highness," _ said a woman with a sword. She wore form-fitting leather armour that looked too tight to move in but also really cool. Her skin was pale and her hair was dark, slicked back into a ponytail that reached her lower back.  _ "I can't protect you if you're always out of reach." _

The princess laughed.  _ "If you can't catch up to me, then I guess I'll need a new bodyguard." _

Adora oohed and ahhed at the antics of the princess and her bodyguard. "Is the bodyguard going to chase off the Princess's secret lover?"

"I hope so," Catra said. "I can't stand mushy stuff." She made a disgusted expression, sticking her tongue out to show how indisputably grossed out she was.

She was pretty sure she didn't have anything to worry about at the moment; the Princess's lover hadn't even showed up yet. Minutes went by until an hour had passed without the slightest hint of who the Princess was in love with.

"Is the secret of the Princess's lover supposed to be a secret to the people watching too?" Catra complained.

"The Princess can't meet her lover until the bodyguard isn't there," Adora argued. "It's too bad. I like her character a lot."

Out of boredom and a desire to amuse Adora, Catra started pointing at every character and asking if they were the Princess's secret lover. The more obscure the character, the more Adora laughed. She accused the shopkeeper who only appeared in one scene, a potted plant, and even the bodyguard's sword.

"What about the bodyguard?" Adora asked.

"Come on, as if that stick-in-the-mud would be anyone's secret lover."

The next scene proved her wrong.

Catra and Adora huddled together as the mood changed. The Princess and her bodyguard stole away to the princess's chambers after a weirdly intimate dance at something called a "princess prom." Despite being alone, the two women spoke in hushed voices, their faces inches apart.

_ "We can't keep doing this," _ the bodyguard said.  _ "It isn't proper." _

"She kinda sounds like you," Catra said, nudging Adora with her elbow.

"I guess that makes you the Princess," Adora shot back, giggling at Catra's horrified reaction. "She doesn't follow the rules either."

Speaking of which...

_ "Aren't you going to kiss me?" _ the princess asked.  _ "I know you want to..." _

Catra had heard of kisses, but she'd never seen one. She leaned forward curiously.

_ "I can't," _ the bodyguard said.  _ "The desires of my heart aren't as important as my duty." _

Despite her words, the bodyguard leaned in and pressed her mouth to the Princess's. They held each other close, their lips moving against each other in a passionate display of affection. Scratch everything Catra thought earlier; this was the most un-Horde-like thing she'd ever seen.

So that was a kiss. Watching it made Catra feel funny. She averted her gaze from the movie to look at Adora instead, but that made her feel funny too, the sensation growing stronger when Adora looked back at her.

"So, um, I guess the bodyguard was the secret lover all along," Adora said. "Who would've guessed."

"I knew the whole time," Catra lied. "I was, uh, just joking about it because I didn't want to spoil the surprise." Of course, she was just as surprised as Adora. She thought they were just friends—the Princess and her bodyguard, that is. To think that they had been in love this whole time... Catra wondered what else they were going to do...

Without warning, the projected spluttered and the movie cut out.

Catra jumped to her feet, her tail flaring out like a bottle brush in distress. "What? Where's the rest? Stupid projector!" She smacked it a few times, but the projector was beyond help.

"No need to get so worked up." Adora smirked at her as she stood up. "I never thought you'd get so invested in mushy stuff like that."

Catra spluttered and hissed. "Was not! It's just a kiss, which is like the most boring thing ever!"

Adora poked Catra's cheek, her finger feeling cold against the catgirl's hot face. "I'd believe that if you weren't blushing." She giggled. "Is this your secret weakness? Mushy stuff and kissing?"

"No! I don't have any weaknesses!" Except Adora. "I can do anything!"

"Oh really?" Adora grinned. "Prove it."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I dare you to kiss me!" Adora put her hands on her hips, proudly posturing as if she'd said something clever.

"What!?" Every one of Catra's hairs stood on end. "I can't do that!"

"I knew it," Adora gloated. "Catra's got a weakness! Catra's got a weakness!"

Catra's ears angled back, but the end of her tail flicked back and forth. Her stomach fluttered at the thought of doing gross, mushy stuff with her best friend, but she couldn't let Adora get the best of her. "Fine! I'll kiss your smug little face off!"

She cupped Adora's face in her hands. Adora blinked in surprise—she didn't expect Catra would go through with it—but she relaxed and puckered her lips in preparation for the kiss.

The kiss which was not forthcoming. Catra hesitated, desperately wracking her memory for how the bodyguard in the movie had done it.  _ Oh, screw it, _ she thought. It's not like this was supposed to be  _ romantic _ or anything. She just needed to get it over with to prove she wasn't a coward.

Catra scrunched her face up and pressed her lips to Adora's puckered mouth. Their lips felt soft against each other, totally different from the way their callused hands fit together. Something stirred in her, a long-repressed impulse. She wanted to keep kissing Adora.  _ Since I'm already doing this, I might as well do it right, _ she rationalized.

She imitated what she could remember from the kiss scene, encouraging Adora's puckered mouth to relax with her own lips. Adora acquiesced, easing into the kiss and putting her arms around Catra, who quickly lost herself in this new, softer side of Adora...

"Catra... are you purring?"

"No!" Catra yelped. "There! I did it! Happy now?" She didn't wait for an answer. "We need to get back to the barracks before Shadow Weaver notices we're gone." As if she cared about that. All she wanted was an excuse to run away.

"Catra! Wait!" Adora cried as her friend fled the room, but Catra kept going.

Catra's face burned, her heart beating hard like the machines in the Horde's foundry and pounding her into pulp.  _ What was that!? _ she screamed internally. She couldn't believe she let herself be all mushy and vulnerable.

Princess propaganda was dangerous stuff.


End file.
